"Sandra, I'm home!"
Routinely Lilith called her sister's name as she stepped inside the door. Usually the sister would show up to ask how school had been today, but this day was different. Already when Lilith opened the door she felt that something was wrong. That was probably the reason why she had yelled higher than she used to. Sandra still didn't show up. Lilith wrinkled her forehead as she pulled off her shoes and hang her jacket on the hook. The sister usually answered her, if she was in the bathroom or something like that. After throwing the bag onto her bed, she searched through the entire house. It was empty. In the kitchen she found traces after Sandra's breakfast, but no other meal. Had Sandra disappeared in the morning? Lilith tried not to go hyperneurotic. It wouldn't make anything better, but her brain had already taken one more step; had Sandra been kidnapped? After a while she managed to calm herself down with the explanation that the door had been locked. What kidnappers lock the door behind them? None that she had heard of. Since Sandra had been feeling better during the morning, she might have gone out somewhere. After all, the beginning of July was always warm and pleasant. Lilith sat down at the kitchen table and grabbed the paper. She froze, before rising and going back to the door. She quickly pulled on her shoes, went out through the door and slammed it shut behind her. Then she rushed towards the common land. The crowd was bigger than she had expected and she had to push her way through the mass of journalists. Two polices came to her at once.
"What do you want?" one of them asked sternly.
"I'm looking for my sister, Sandra Roberts", Lilith answered. "Have you seen her?"
The police raised one of his eyebrows, before sending the other one away.
"She was here this morning", he said in a low voice. "I'm Lincoln Atwood, constable."
"Lilith Roberts", Lilith answered and looked out across the field. "Where did she go after that?"
Atwood looked uncomfortable for a while, before he sighed.
"Jump in", he said. Lilith raised her eyebrows in surprise, before doing as he had said. The questions rained over them, but Atwood just led her towards the copse in silence.
When they where among the trees, he stopped.
"You see those trees over there?" he asked. "Those that seem to make a gateway?"
Lilith nodded.
"That's the mystical door that the paper wrote about", Atwood explained. "Your sister fell through it by an accident."
Lilith groaned. She should have seen it. Sandra had always been interested of anything magical and mystical and now when something like that had showed up so close to her home she had obviously decided to investigate it.
"She hasn't returned yet?" she asked after a while. Atwood shook his head.
"The press asks questions about it all the time, everyone wants to know if we've found her", he said and scratched his neck. "This should never have happened!"
Lilith looked at the trees, before picking up a stone and throwing it in between them. It disappeared, but she was almost sure that she had heard a voice saying 'ouch'.
"The only way is probably to pass through it", she said. "I can do it."
Before Atwood had the chance to answer, Lilith stepped forward and in between the trees. Stars passed her at high speed, before she was engulfed by a white light and landed on her knees on snow-covered ground. Muttering she stood up and looked around. The landscape was unfamiliar, covered in crystal-white snow and without any polluted air. Lilith took a deep breath, before placing her hands round her mouth and shaping them to a funnel.
"Sandra!"
The call resounded across the fields. She repeated it, but only received the echo as an answer. Irritated she put her hands on her hips and turned around. She took a few steps forward and expected to end up in the copse once again. Nothing happened. Surprised she turned again and took a few steps. Still the snow was all around her.
"Congratulations, Lilith, you've just achieved the price as the world's most stupid person", she muttered. A cold wind began to blow around her and she slapped herself to keep warm. It was a big difference to the warmth of Norwich. Suddenly she realised that someone was watching her and looked around. Behind a tree stood someone who, by his length, couldn't be older than nine or ten years. His bluegrey eyes turned open wide when he realised that he had been seen and he quickly took cover behind the tree. Lilith sighed and allowed her arms to hang straight down again.
"Hey? You're okay?"
She didn't get any answer. With a forehead that was a bit wrinkled she took a few steps towards the tree, before halting a few meters in front of it.
"I don't want to harm you, I promise", she said and squatted. "My name is Lilith Roberts."
Slowly the boy looked out from the tree again and now Lilith realised that he looked more like a very short man than a boy.
"Sure that… that you're not… not… well, you know… her…"
He pointed at a castle far away. Lilith wrinkled her forehead.
"Who lives there?" she asked.
"Ah, you're not her ally", the man said with a relieved sigh and stepped forward. He couldn't be more than a meter high, maybe a few centimetres more.
"I'm Peregrin Took", he said with a bow. Lilith looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you?" she asked.
"I?" Peregrin said and looked at her in surprise. "Ah, you refer to my length, right? Well, many haven't seen us; we stay in hiding, we hobbits, since she-over-there knows that we have… contacts, so to say."
"Hobbits?" Lilith said, confused. "I've never heard of hobbits before."
"I told you we stay in hiding", Peregrin said calmly. He swept his grey cloak closer around him in the rising wind.
"We better get away from here. A storm's coming and I think I know who sent it."
He pointed towards the castle, before walking into the forest again. Lilith slowly rose, but wasn't sure if she should follow him. Then Peregrin popped out his head again.
"Come on, unless you want to freeze to death", he said. Lilith sighed, before following him.
"What kind of land is this? Small people calling themselves hobbits, people who sends out storms, mystical doors who let people from other places pass…"
"What?"
Peregrin stopped, turned around and stared at her.
"You came through a portal?" he managed to say.
"A what?" Lilith asked. Peregrin shook his head.
"No time to explain, this can only mean one thing", he said and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a run beside him. "The time of Valinor has come and you're a part of it, which means she is after you and those that might be with you."
"Oh God, Sandra!" Lilith exclaimed, pulling back her arm. "If it's like you're saying, my sister's in danger."
"Do you know where she is?" Peregrin wondered.
"No, I have no idea", Lilith answered.
"Then I'm afraid we haven't got the time to look for her", Peregrin sighed. "Come on!"
He grabbed her arm again and together they rushed through the forest. The wind kept rising. After a while they had to shout to each other to make sure the other heard them.
"Is it far away?" Lilith called.
"Not too far", Peregrin answered. "We're keeping ourselves on a safe distance."
'Safe distance from what?" Lilith thought. She didn't know anything about this land, Valinor as Peregrin had called it, and now she ran for her life across it. Suddenly Peregrin stopped her and knocked on a broad root, half hidden beneath the snow. The combination of knocks and slaps was impossible for Lilith to remember, but suddenly the root slid aside and revealed a dark hole. A ladder lead down to it and Peregrin began to climb down immediately. Lilith hesitated, before following him. The root slid back in place after her.
When they reached the bottom of the hole, a long corridor was lighten up by torches in front of them. Peregrin lead her on, through sideways and crossings, before he stopped in front of a big door. He knocked another combination on it, before it was opened from the inside. Peregrin calmly lead Lilith inside the cave. When she turned her head to see the one who had opened up, there was no one there. Everything just made her more and more confused. With a wrinkled forehead she turned forward again and noticed a couple of obscured people around a table.
"Pippin, who's with you?" one of them asked.
"This is Lilith", Peregrin answered. "She and her sister came through a portal."
"What?"
The person stood up and the others 'round the table mumbled in another language.
"One good and one bad news then", the man who had risen said. "The Portalkeeper is near, but the portals also let others pass."
"I was just going to fetch my sister!" Lilith spit out. "Then I couldn't get back."
"Hold on, did you move from the place you landed on?" the man asked solemnly.
"No, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find my way back", Lilith angrily answered.
"So the portals closed after bringing you and your sister here", the man said thoughtfully, before he sat down once again. Lilith raised her eyebrow in irritation, before looking at Peregrin. He shook his head in wonder.
"This is impossible!" he whispered.
"No, not impossible", the man sighed. "We knew that our rescue would come through the portals. Now two girls have arrived. A part of those who vanished."
"Part of who?" Lilith asked.
"A long time ago four queens ruled these countries", the man explained. "They saved more than one world from falling and we where some of their closest friends. Then, in a battle in the world Deverry, three of them where killed. Others killed returned here… but they didn't. They'd vanished. Then Andernilwen, the queen of ice who caused all this, took the throne and joined the four countries. We who stood against her created this Alliance, but we're losing many men since most of us are magicians."
"Why would that be a trouble?" Lilith wondered.
"Andernilwen captures the magicians, making them serve her", Pippin answered. "Through that she shows power and we don't want to harm our friends."
The man seemed to have more to say, but was interrupted by the door bursting open. About ten men and women walked into the room.
"Aragorn, the prophecy!" one of the women said to the man at the table. "It has come true!"
"What happened?" the man asked and stood up.
"We where rescued by a young girl", the woman answered. "She saved us all!"
"Have you seen her before?" Aragorn asked.
"No, she wore very strange clothes", was the answer. "She must have arrived through a portal."
"It must have been Sandra!" Lilith exclaimed. The new arrivals looked at her in surprise.
"Lilith came here through a portal", Aragorn explained. "She followed her sister… was Sandra her name?"
"Yes, Sandra Roberts", Lilith answered. "Where is she now?"
"Remus took her away from the castle before we had killed all the guards", the woman answered.
"Gods, the storm!" Peregrin exclaimed. "It must be after her! Andernilwen wants revenge!"
"They've probably found some shelter", Aragorn calmed. "We'll search for them when the wind's calmed down."
Lilith swallowed. What was going on?